Southwest Outdoor Educator: Backpacking and Rock Climbing

Highlights

Designed for those currently working in or planning to enter the field of outdoor education

The Southwest’s Sonoran desert is famous for its incredible diversity and wealth of plants and animals

Hike in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge or the Galiuro Wilderness

Climb at either Joshua Tree or Cochise Stronghold

Practice teaching and facilitating group experiences and learning in order to develop skills as an educator

Certification: Leave No Trace Trainer or Master Educator

Focuses on building competence as outdoor leaders and emphasizes wilderness skills, group facilitation, risk management and using the wilderness as a classroom to support growth of groups and individuals

Are you an active or aspiring outdoor educator? This is your opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills necessary for teaching and leading field-based wilderness education programs.

While in the desert, you'll learn basic outdoor living skills such as minimum-impact camping, first aid, and map reading.

We'll also give you an inside track into the fundamentals of running wilderness education courses with an overview of program supervision, risk management, and NOLS administrative practices.

While building a foundation of program knowledge, the course dives into a 16-day backpacking expedition in the pristine desert landscape of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge or the Galiuro Wilderness followed by 14 days of rock climbing at Cochise Stronghold or Joshua Tree National Park.

Do you have any questions? Talk with the NOLS Outdoor Educator Advisor:

“In receiving personalized mentoring from my instructors, I was affirmed in my desire to pursue a career in outdoor education. Before the course, I was unsure whether I was qualified or committed to pursuing a career in outdoor ed. I learned that I am a good candidate to instruct for NOLS or other top education organizations in the future. This is a major positive step forward for me in life and career.”

Dates

January 06 - February 05, 2017

Skills Learned

Backpacking

There’s nothing quite like seeing the remote wilderness on your own two feet, carrying all your own gear on your back while gaining the tools necessary to become a great leader in the backcountry and at home.

Backpacking courses often hike three out of every four days. You’ll travel in small hiking groups so you have more opportunities to lead, make decisions, and map read as you move through beautiful wilderness. Hiking days begin early when you light your stove, cook and enjoy breakfast, and then organize and pack your pack.

You’re usually hiking by mid-morning. Lunch on the trail might be bread you baked the day before, or a trail mix of nuts and dried fruits. You may stop for a short class on natural history, or to learn how to cross a river, travel through boulders or snow, or move over a high pass. When you arrive at your new camp location, you'll first spend time choosing a Leave No Trace site and organizing camp, then you’ll prepare a well-deserved dinner. If the day was long, a short evening meeting may wrap up the day. If the hike was short, there may be a class or discussion.

Rock Climbing

Primarily 30 days in length, these courses focus on technical traditional climbing skills in addition to camping and travel skills. You'll learn knots and rope handling, belaying, rappelling, protection placement and hazard evaluation while working on improving your movement over rock and potentially lead climbing.

Location

NOLS Southwest

Welcome to the American Southwest: A horizon studded with saguaro cactus, hidden nooks lush with watercress, granite strongholds glowing orange in the setting sun, the call of a Gambel’s quail, the smell of mesquite washed in a pounding desert rain.

Now put yourself in the picture. You could be climbing, hiking, or canoeing in terrain as varied as those skills. From our facility on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona, we explore the amazing diversity of this desert region, a land of mountain lion, javelina, and white-tailed deer.

Birds such as the elegant trogon and white-eared hummingbird fly the same skies as red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures. It’s a land that famed naturalist Aldo Leopold called “near to being the cream of creation.”

Courses pass through areas also rich in human history, areas originally inhabited by ancient cultures and areas with a more recent Spanish influence. With easy access, amazing contrasts, and challenging technical skills, a course at NOLS Southwest is hard to beat.